Anand Chokkavelu writes of 100 things he's learned in investing.
Me, I [try to] look for the one main thing. Let me see if it's in the list.
Hmm. Not really. [Well maybe #29 sort of touches on it]
Let's see if I can find an appropriate Warren Buffett quote.
Well I guess there's this one:
If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
How to play the Obamacare ruling
The Supreme Court's highly anticipated ruling on the
constitutionality of "Obamacare" will rattle the stock and bond markets
every bit as much as it shakes up the 2012 presidential contest.
With Americans spending nearly $2.7 trillion a year on medical treatments, health care accounts for 18% of gross domestic product and 12% of the Standard & Poor's 500. In other words, chances are good that your investment portfolio will be affected by the high court's decision.
It looks like the ruling will be handed down the week of June 24, the end of the court's current session. A decision either way could give a broad lift to the health-care sector in the short term, because it would eliminate uncertainty. But soon after, the stocks of various types of companies within health care would most likely follow separate courses. Regardless of whether the law is upheld or struck down or modified, some stocks will get clobbered, some will pop and others will barely budge.
With Americans spending nearly $2.7 trillion a year on medical treatments, health care accounts for 18% of gross domestic product and 12% of the Standard & Poor's 500. In other words, chances are good that your investment portfolio will be affected by the high court's decision.
It looks like the ruling will be handed down the week of June 24, the end of the court's current session. A decision either way could give a broad lift to the health-care sector in the short term, because it would eliminate uncertainty. But soon after, the stocks of various types of companies within health care would most likely follow separate courses. Regardless of whether the law is upheld or struck down or modified, some stocks will get clobbered, some will pop and others will barely budge.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Larry Ellison is buying Lanai
Hawaii’s sixth-largest island,
Lanai, has been known by different nicknames through the decades — from
the “Pineapple Island” to the “Private Island” and at present “Hawaii’s
Most Enticing Island.” One could soon call it “Ellison Island.”
The third-richest man in
America, Oracle Corp. co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison, is buying Lanai
from fellow billionaire David Murdock for hundreds of millions of
dollars in cash, though the exact price was not disclosed.
Friday, June 15, 2012
my investing bookshelf
I figure since I created my list of dog books, I might as well post the list of investing books that I have on my bookshelf (or somewhere).
Richard Band, Contrary Investing for the 1990s (1989)
Peter Brimelow, The Wall Street Gurus (1986)
Mary Buffett and David Clark, Buffettology (1997)
Charles B. Carlson, Eight $teps To $even Figure$ (2000)
George S. Clason, The Richest Man in Babylon (1989)
James J. Cramer, Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich (2006)
James J. Cramer, Stay Mad for Life (2007)
Lawrence Cunningham, The Essays of Warren Buffett (1998)
Pat Dorsey, The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing (2004)
Charles D. Ellis, The Investor's Anthology (1997)
Mark Fisher, The Instant Millionaire (1993)
Mark Fisher, Millionaire's Secrets (1996)
Norman Fosback, Stock Market Logic (1976)
David and Tom Gardner, The Motley Fool Investment Guide (1996
J. Paul Getty, How To Be Rich (1986)
Robert Hagstrom, The Warren Buffett Way (1994)
Robert Hagstrom, The Warren Buffett Portfolio (1999)
Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich (1983)
Andrew Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett (1994)
Peter Krass, The Book of Investing Wisdom (1999)
Robert Lichello, How To Make $1,000,000 in the Stock Market (1985)
Janet Lowe, Warren Buffett Speaks (1997)
Roger Lowenstein, Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (1995)
Peter Lynch, One Up On Wall Street (1990)
Peter Lynch, Beating The Street (1994)
Peter Lynch, Learn To Earn (1997)
Michael Mauboussin, More Than You Know (2006)
William J. O'Neil, How To Make Money In Stocks (1994)
James P. O'Shaughnessy, What Works On Wall Street (1996)
James Pardoe, How Buffett Does It (2005)
William Poundstone, Fortune's Formula (2006)
Martin Pring, Investment Psychology Explained (1992)
Siimon Reynolds, Thoughts of Chairman Buffett (1998)
John Rothchild, A Fool and his Money (1988)
Howard Ruff, Making Money (1986)
Adam Smith, The Money Game (1967)
Adam Smith, Supermoney (1972)
Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, The Millionaire Next Door (1996)
Madelon DeVoe Talley, The Passionate Investors (1987)
Andrew Tobias, Still! The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need (1978)
Andrew Tobias, Getting By on $100,000 a Year (1981)
Andrew Tobias, Money Angles (1985)
Phil Town, Rule #1 (2007)
John Train, The Money Masters (1980)
John Train: The Midas Touch (1988)
John Train, The New Money Masters (1990)
John Train, The Craft of Investing (1994)
Clint Willis, What Do I Do With My Money Now? (2003)
Martin Zweig, Winning On Wall Street (1986)
And on my wanted/reminder list:
Mary Buffett and David Clark, The Tao of Warren Buffett
Joel Greenblatt, The Little Book The Beats The Market
Janet Lowe, Damn Right: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger
Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
Peter Sander and Janet Haley, Value Investing for Dummies
*** [8/29/14 via facebook]
A review of 26 books (out of 52)
Richard Band, Contrary Investing for the 1990s (1989)
Peter Brimelow, The Wall Street Gurus (1986)
Mary Buffett and David Clark, Buffettology (1997)
Charles B. Carlson, Eight $teps To $even Figure$ (2000)
George S. Clason, The Richest Man in Babylon (1989)
James J. Cramer, Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich (2006)
James J. Cramer, Stay Mad for Life (2007)
Lawrence Cunningham, The Essays of Warren Buffett (1998)
Pat Dorsey, The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing (2004)
Charles D. Ellis, The Investor's Anthology (1997)
Mark Fisher, The Instant Millionaire (1993)
Mark Fisher, Millionaire's Secrets (1996)
Norman Fosback, Stock Market Logic (1976)
David and Tom Gardner, The Motley Fool Investment Guide (1996
J. Paul Getty, How To Be Rich (1986)
Robert Hagstrom, The Warren Buffett Way (1994)
Robert Hagstrom, The Warren Buffett Portfolio (1999)
Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich (1983)
Andrew Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett (1994)
Peter Krass, The Book of Investing Wisdom (1999)
Robert Lichello, How To Make $1,000,000 in the Stock Market (1985)
Janet Lowe, Warren Buffett Speaks (1997)
Roger Lowenstein, Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist (1995)
Peter Lynch, One Up On Wall Street (1990)
Peter Lynch, Beating The Street (1994)
Peter Lynch, Learn To Earn (1997)
Michael Mauboussin, More Than You Know (2006)
William J. O'Neil, How To Make Money In Stocks (1994)
James P. O'Shaughnessy, What Works On Wall Street (1996)
James Pardoe, How Buffett Does It (2005)
William Poundstone, Fortune's Formula (2006)
Martin Pring, Investment Psychology Explained (1992)
Siimon Reynolds, Thoughts of Chairman Buffett (1998)
John Rothchild, A Fool and his Money (1988)
Howard Ruff, Making Money (1986)
Adam Smith, The Money Game (1967)
Adam Smith, Supermoney (1972)
Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, The Millionaire Next Door (1996)
Madelon DeVoe Talley, The Passionate Investors (1987)
Andrew Tobias, Still! The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need (1978)
Andrew Tobias, Getting By on $100,000 a Year (1981)
Andrew Tobias, Money Angles (1985)
Phil Town, Rule #1 (2007)
John Train, The Money Masters (1980)
John Train: The Midas Touch (1988)
John Train, The New Money Masters (1990)
John Train, The Craft of Investing (1994)
Clint Willis, What Do I Do With My Money Now? (2003)
Martin Zweig, Winning On Wall Street (1986)
And on my wanted/reminder list:
Mary Buffett and David Clark, The Tao of Warren Buffett
Joel Greenblatt, The Little Book The Beats The Market
Janet Lowe, Damn Right: Behind the Scenes with Berkshire Hathaway Billionaire Charlie Munger
Charlie Munger, Poor Charlie's Almanack
Peter Sander and Janet Haley, Value Investing for Dummies
*** [8/29/14 via facebook]
A review of 26 books (out of 52)
Thursday, June 07, 2012
successful dividend investors
Dividend investing is as sexy as watching paint dry on the wall.
Defining an entry criteria that selects quality dividend stocks with
rising dividends over time and then patiently reinvesting these
dividends while sitting on your hands is not exciting.
I did some research and uncovered several sucessful successful dividend investors, whose stories provide reassurance that the traits of successful dividend investing I outlined in a previous post are indeed accurate.
Anne Scheiber turned a $5,000 investment in 1944 into $22 million by the time of her death at the age of 101 in 1995. Anne Scheiber worked as an IRS auditor for 23 years, never earning more than $3150/year. The one important lesson she learned auditing tax returns was that the surest way to become rich in America is by accumulating stocks. [8/2/14] [8/16/19]
Grace Groner, who turned a small $180 investment in 1935 into $7 million by the time of her death in 2010. Ms Groner, who worked as a secretary at Abbott Laboratories for 43 years invested $180 in 3 shares of Abbott Laboratories (ABT) in 1935. She then simply reinvested the dividends for the next 75 years. She never sold, but just held on to her shares.
The third dividend investor is Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha himself. In a previous article, I have outlined the reasoning behind my belief that Buffett is a closet dividend investor. He explicitly noted in his 2009 letter that "the best businesses by far for owners continue to be those that have high returns on capital and that require little incremental investment to grow".
I did some research and uncovered several sucessful successful dividend investors, whose stories provide reassurance that the traits of successful dividend investing I outlined in a previous post are indeed accurate.
Anne Scheiber turned a $5,000 investment in 1944 into $22 million by the time of her death at the age of 101 in 1995. Anne Scheiber worked as an IRS auditor for 23 years, never earning more than $3150/year. The one important lesson she learned auditing tax returns was that the surest way to become rich in America is by accumulating stocks. [8/2/14] [8/16/19]
Grace Groner, who turned a small $180 investment in 1935 into $7 million by the time of her death in 2010. Ms Groner, who worked as a secretary at Abbott Laboratories for 43 years invested $180 in 3 shares of Abbott Laboratories (ABT) in 1935. She then simply reinvested the dividends for the next 75 years. She never sold, but just held on to her shares.
The third dividend investor is Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha himself. In a previous article, I have outlined the reasoning behind my belief that Buffett is a closet dividend investor. He explicitly noted in his 2009 letter that "the best businesses by far for owners continue to be those that have high returns on capital and that require little incremental investment to grow".
Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Ron Paul's portfolio
Last May, Ron Paul filed his financial disclosure form, and The Wall Street Journal enlisted financial analyst William Bernstein to scrutinize his investments.
“Paul’s portfolio isn’t merely different,” said an astonished Journal, “it’s shockingly different.”
Twenty-one percent of his $2.4 to $5.5 million was in real estate, 14 percent in cash. He owns no bonds. Only 0.1 percent is invested in stocks, and Paul bought these “short,” betting the price will plunge. Every other nickel is sunk into gold and silver mining companies.
Bernstein “had never seen such an extreme bet on economic catastrophe,” said the Journal.
“This portfolio,” said Bernstein, “is a half step away from a cellar-full of canned goods and 9-millimeter rounds.”
“You can say this for Ron Paul,” conceded the Journal. “In investing as in politics, (Paul) has the courage of his convictions.”
Indeed, he does. Paul’s investments mirror his belief that the empire of debt is coming down and Western governments will never repay — in dollars of the same value — what they have borrowed.
- seen in Midweek, 1/18/12
“Paul’s portfolio isn’t merely different,” said an astonished Journal, “it’s shockingly different.”
Twenty-one percent of his $2.4 to $5.5 million was in real estate, 14 percent in cash. He owns no bonds. Only 0.1 percent is invested in stocks, and Paul bought these “short,” betting the price will plunge. Every other nickel is sunk into gold and silver mining companies.
Bernstein “had never seen such an extreme bet on economic catastrophe,” said the Journal.
“This portfolio,” said Bernstein, “is a half step away from a cellar-full of canned goods and 9-millimeter rounds.”
“You can say this for Ron Paul,” conceded the Journal. “In investing as in politics, (Paul) has the courage of his convictions.”
Indeed, he does. Paul’s investments mirror his belief that the empire of debt is coming down and Western governments will never repay — in dollars of the same value — what they have borrowed.
- seen in Midweek, 1/18/12